Counterfiet Benchmade 10400?

[jemelby]

The BM 10400 Pika bears a remarkable resemblence to a Spyderco.

A fellow just came thru my office and showed me what I though was a Benchmade 10400 Pika. There were a number of problems with it.

1) The hole was perfectly round. Not an oval like the others I have seen.

2) It had a TiNi-like coating (not BT2). I have not been able to find any references to a coated Pika.

3) The blade was marked ATS-34. I didn't think BM offered blades in ATS-34, but favored the very similar American Made 154CM. ATS-34 isn't even listed in their "find-a-knife" wizard. The BM site states 440C or N690 for this knife.

4) The blade from haft to tip was 3.375", not 3.5.

The knife was clearly marked with the Benchmade logo, and had "made in America" melted into the handle on one side of the belt clip, and "Benchmade" on the other.

The knife was purchased for $20 at an Army-Airforce Exchange Service (AAFES) store in Bosinia.

Any insight folks can lend would be appreciated. I've included a pic of the Pika, though it came from a vendor's site, and is slightly different in appearance from the picture on the BM site. This is not a picture of the suspected couterfiet pika.

 

[GarageBoy]

Could be an old Ascent

 

[phatch]

That would be the Ascent, a line of lockbacks similar to the AFCK. I don't know of any offered in Ti Nitride however.

Maybe it was BC coateded? Boron something or other.

Phil

 

[cpirtle]

Benchmade licensed the round hole from Spyderco for some knives in the past.

Here's a pic of an Ascent borrowed from Best Knives.

 

[Patryn]

It either had a BT coating on it, a satin finish, or it was done aftermarket. The Ascent/Eclipse line were thier entry level folders, and they didn't bother putting a more expensive BC1 coating on them.

As mentioned, BM obtained a liscense to use the hole opener on a number of different blades. They switched to an oval hole after a relatively short period.